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| Napoleon's House, Ajaccio, Corsica |
After breakfast and a swim, we set sail for Porto Pollo in the Golfe de Valinco, on the west coast of Corsica, and arrived about 6 p.m., managing to sail about half of the 40 mile trip. We are quite nervous about sailing on the west coast of Corsica, as the prevailing winds are from the west and the winds coming down from the Golfe de Lyon, including the mistral, can be vicious.
The forecast for Saturday was a Force 7, but we decided to set off for Ajaccio, about 20 miles up the coast. The winds did not reach the predicted Force 7, but it was about a Force 5 with a very nasty sea, which made me feel very seasick. Much looking at the horizon was called for! The anchorages at Ajaccio were quite crowded and the holding was not very good in weed, so it took us over an hour to anchor.
On Sunday we went ashore in the dinghy, but the prop on the dinghy wouldn’t go round, so we had to row. Ajaccio is the capital of Corsica and the birthplace of Napoleon. Even though it was a Sunday and the main shops were closed, there was a lively atmosphere in the town, including the open air market. We visited the Musee National de la Maison Bonaparte where Napoleon was born and spent the first nine years of his life. The Corsican nationalists in 1793 and the English in 1796 ransacked the house, but it was later restored by Napoleon’s mother.
The wind was stronger by the time we got back to the dinghy and it was a long way to row, so we decided to pull the dinghy on its wheel along to a beach nearer the boat. We had to manhandle it over rocks to get it on the beach, but were helped by a couple of very helpful teenagers who also pushed us out through the surf. As we were struggling to row against the wind, a family came and gave us a tow to our boat. Roger managed to free the prop shaft, which had completely seized.
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